Need a small inspection camera

Tom Wesenberg

Tom Wesenberg

Well-known member
Does anyone know of a small inspection or security camera that can be connected to my laptop for viewing?

The camera should be small enough to fit into spark plug holes. It could also be used to view tight spots between double panels to look for rust, etc.

H/F has a small camera, but the screen is also very small, and I was in the store when a customer returned one saying the resolution was not much good.
 
I used one that we have at work (maker unknown) for inspection of cracks inside our parts. I used it to inspect the inside of my gas tank. Problem is that it does not have a wide enough focal length to start at a wide area then to move or zoom in. This makes it very difficult to start by seeing something that you know what it is, then coming in for deeper inspection. It was great for getting extremely close and focusing in on the substrate, but I found it pretty useless. Make sure you get something that you can be about an inch or two away and get a focus of what you see at that distance then be able to focus close up also if you want.
 
Tom, the company I worked for before retirement produced flexable fiberscopes with mini cameras. They are used for veteranarians and automotive troubleshooting. You can Google it if interested. look for "Scope Technology in Pomfret Ct". They just moved to Plainfield Ct. but I think they are still listed in Pomfret. Ron Greene(Pres.) would be the guy to talk to.
 
I have one that I use that is hand held,but it doesn't connect to a laptop..It is made by Milwaukee.They are available at most big box stores .Don't know if this is what you could use .But it works for me .
 
They carry one at our Costco stores but I haven't really played with the display model. A buddy looked at the Harbor Freight one, said it was junk and got one from Costco. I should check his out but have a bit on my plate right now.
 
joe plumber said:
I have one that I use that is hand held,but it doesn't connect to a laptop..It is made by Milwaukee.They are available at most big box stores .Don't know if this is what you could use .But it works for me .
Click to expand...

Tom, I have one like joe has but its made by Testo. I bought it to look in walls for water leaks and etc. I used it on my sons Model A to find the dimple on the timing gear that we couldnt feel with the pin. Was able to get it dead center. Picture shows up good.
 
I borrowed a Snap On camera from a local shope that worked very well inspecting the ring gear and pinion in a differential saved a lot time as this was a rear end i was considering for parts.
John
 
i have the snap on camera works excellent but very pricey. can also load the movie onto my pc. you get what you pay for in cameras just like a cctv system
 
Talk with your plumber. Mine uses a hand held with a flexible wand. An extension can be added to increase viewing distance. I don't know if it has memory capability to be able to be downloaded to a PC. Most major tool manufacturers have similar versions.
 
I bought the Harbour Fright Centech #67980
A big price factor is lens size and I waited a few yrs to find a small one for reasonable cost. This has a 8.5 mm lens with built in LED light that's controlled from the handset. It records pix and movies with options for an added camera storage card (sd). It has a cord to view your pics on a TV or PC monitor but I've found the handset screen is adaquate so haven't tried plugging in. It comes with a nice hard case and the built in battery seems to work even after long storage.
I needed this tool probably a couple dozen times, the last being when I sheared a spark plug tip off inside my 04 f150 and that was the final straw, I bought the camera!
So far I've used it mainly for finding water leaks in cars...and lending out to my friends. It works very well and "feels" like a descent quality tool.
The one thing that drives me insane (well OK there's a few other factors) but mainly it's having no control over the tip once it enters the hole. You seem to sometimes pull it out a hundred times and bend it to go around corners but it takes some patience and is limited where it goes. They REALLY need to market one that "steers".
I've noticed these things are still coming down in price and available at all the major chains.
I would shop for the largest screen size and a small lens. Having a laptop idealy positioned for viewing in a car or worse in an engine compartment, while manouvering cables about, is harder than you might imagine.
 
I bought one off ebay recently, it has a 7mm camera head and a usb end, it was less than 20 bucks, but you'll need a laptop. It works great, plus you have a big screen on the laptop. go to ebay and search usb endoscope, there are lots on there, I went for one with free shipping and the smallest camera head.
 
modeleh said:
I bought one off ebay recently, it has a 7mm camera head and a usb end, it was less than 20 bucks, but you'll need a laptop. It works great, plus you have a big screen on the laptop. go to ebay and search usb endoscope, there are lots on there, I went for one with free shipping and the smallest camera head.
Click to expand...

Good tip and lots of cheap cameras. I wonder how far away you can view, or does it only focus within a couple inches?

I got a kick out of reading the spider description on this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...akeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en
 
The one I have can be focused at the hand held part that has the viewing screen on it .I also have extensions for it .I had the gear come off the end of my speedometer cable and I put in the hole where the cable fits into the ****** and found it right away and used a pair of mechanical fingers alongside the camera extension to retrieve the gear .You can also focus it by moving the extension in or out .One of the best tools I ever purchaed .JMO
 
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